hi stoddard
There is one of the best alternative of tiles presnt in the market is
Sitemesh Decorators you can get more information on this on opensymhony.com
There is online tutorial on this site which will teach how to use this i have used this alternative found it very much easier then tiles
Try this out
for any help you can post here or mail me at
catchpankaj_n@yahoo.co.in Best Regards
Pankaj
9818418298